David Lander

Child actress Edith Fellows had made about 30 films by the age of 13 when she starred in a heart-wrenching, high-profile 1936 custody case, which was driven, she later said, by "my money — past, present and future."

Abandoned as an infant by her mother, she was being raised by her paternal grandmother, who brought Edith, then 4, to Hollywood from South Carolina after a "talent scout" guaranteed her a screen test for a $50 fee.

The address they were given led to a vacant lot, and her grandmother responded to the con man's ruse by cleaning houses so that they could afford to stay. Within two years, Edith was cast in her first film, the 1929 short...

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Child actress Edith Fellows had made about 30 films by the age of 13 when she starred in a heart-wrenching, high-profile 1936 custody case, which was driven, she later said, by "my money — past, present and future."
Abandoned as an infant by...